Presenting digitized content on a network using a cross-linked layer of electronic documents derived from a relational database

ABSTRACT

In an embodiment, a computer system comprises one or more content file servers having recorded thereon a plurality of digital content material items, and a plurality of digital graphical image files comprising graphical images associated with the content material items; wherein each of content material items comprises one or more data files of digitized electronic printed, audio, or video content material; one or more navigation page servers each comprising: one or more storage devices having recorded thereon a plurality of navigation page templates; a database comprising stored descriptive information about the content material items, including hierarchical and other relationships both between different content material items and between different subcomponents of content material items; logic encoded on the one or more storage devices and when executed operable to perform: receiving a request to view a particular navigation page, comprising a dynamically-generated electronic document; selecting one of the navigation page templates based on the request; creating and sending to the database, one or more queries for the descriptive information relating to the particular navigation page; receiving one or more results to the queries; generating, based on the one or more results, a particular navigation page comprising descriptive information about one or more of the content material items, portions thereof, or abstract collections thereof; a plurality of links to other such navigation pages; and zero or more links to particular content material items or portions thereof; sending only the particular navigation page to a client computer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS; PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims benefit of Provisional Appln. 60/762,574, filedJan. 27, 2006, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to data processing. Theinvention relates more specifically to methods of presenting andorganizing digitized content material on a network such as the Internet.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are notnecessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued.Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches describedin this section are not prior art to the claims in this application andare not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

In recent years, there have been growing efforts to digitize largequantities of printed content such as books and periodical issues andeffectively distribute such content over the Internet.

This objective seems a reasonable one, since printed matter representspure information and the internet is an efficient means of distributingsuch information.

Even long prior to the creation of the Internet, attempts to digitizeand electronically distribute large quantities of printed content werewidespread. For decades, the collective Gutenberg Project has beendigitizing many thousands of classic books into text form and makingthem available for free downloads from major university computer sites.Database services such as Lexis-Nexis had digitized large portions ofthe archives of major newspapers and periodicals and made the articlesavailable in searchable form to paying customers, originally throughspecialized computer terminals and more recently also through asubscription web site.

More recently, in late 2003, Amazon.com released a free web-based systemcontaining over 100,000 readable, searchable books in electronic form,and Google and Yahoo have subsequently also announced plans to providelarge numbers of books in digitized form. Several magazines have madetheir archives available over the Internet in a variety of forms,sometimes for free and sometimes on a subscription basis.

Yet despite this seemingly natural fit between the digitization ofprinted content and its distribution over the Internet, the generaladoption and use of these systems has usually proven much lesssuccessful than originally expected. For example, the originalannouncement of Amazon's 100,000 searchable digitized books in late 2003generated enormous media coverage, but subsequent attention has beenquite scanty, seemingly indicating that the actual effective use of thesystem is considerably lower than was originally envisioned. Variousmagazines have also privately indicated that the use of their digitizedarchives is considerably below their original hopes and expectations.

One weakness of these existing digitization systems for printed contentmay center upon the inherent trade-offs required in the two differentforms such digitization schemes usually take, namely the “text-based”and the “image-based”.

Under a text-based digitization system such as that of Lexis-Nexis orthe Gutenberg Project, the printed content of a book, magazine article,or newspaper story is converted into a stored file of digitalcharacters, for display as HTML on a web page or in some other form.Character storage formats such as ASCII are used.

This type of digitization has the advantage of providing the content ina light-weight format, and hence is very convenient for use over theInternet, even via a non-broadband connection. Also, the text displayedis exact, searchable, and can be copied-and-pasted from the browserwindow into any other form.

However, this text-based form of digitization also has seriousdisadvantages. First, producing the text requires performing a scan ofthe original printed content, followed by application of OpticalCharacter Recognition (OCR) software to produce the text. Althoughautomatic OCR has increasingly improved in quality, it still produces anoticeable rate of error, requiring subsequent manual-correction of thetext, and therefore dramatically increasing the cost of the digitizationprocess.

Also, the printed content of books and periodicals is frequently laidout on the page in a non-trivial and significant manner, and this layoutis lost if the material is converted to pure text; furthermore, anycolors, drawings, tables, or photographs are obviously lost as well.

In addition, such text-based content is seldom divided by the originalpages, instead being usually provided either in the form of the largeblocks of text representing complete articles or chapters or else beingdivided in a somewhat arbitrary manner, with neither of these choicesbeing ideal.

Finally, the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2001 Tasini v. NewYork Times decision appears to prohibit newspapers or magazines frompermitting their freelance articles to be republished in a different(e.g. text-based) format without the prohibitively difficult requirementof securing authorization from each and every individual writer, unlessthe newspapers or magazines had previously obtained such authorizationby contract. This was one of the factors recently cited by the NewYorker magazine in preventing its own archives from being digitized intoa text-based format.

By contrast, the other, increasingly popular form of digitization isbased on the presentation of the exact, scanned images of the printedcontent, generally as binary image files in JPEG, TIFF, web-optimizedPDF, or some other type of binary image file format.

Although these binary image files require considerably more storage thanpure text, most of the systems used allow the user to automaticallyretrieve only the page or two of material being examined rather than thecomplete contents of the entire book or periodical. Thus, instead ofhaving to transmit the entire multi-megabyte PDF file of a book over theInternet, only a couple of pages are sent at time, allowing even largebooks to be conveniently readable over a non-broadband connection.

Being scanned binary images, the entire content of the original contentmaterial can be preserved, including colors, layouts, drawings, andphotographs. If the format used is text-embedded PDF, the binary imagesare also text-searchable, and software options may be selected to allowthe user to extract any portions of the actual text through standardcopy-and-paste operations.

Finally, presentation of the exact scanned images of all the pages of apublication, especially if constituted as a single PDF file, seeminglyfalls within the permissible bounds of the Tasini decision, andtherefore may be authorized at the sole discretion of the originalpublisher.

Despite these major advantages to the use of image files, considerabledifficulties still remain. First, even despite recent technologicaladvances, binary image files still remain considerably larger thanregular HTML web pages, and many web users are reluctant to add links tothese for fear of inconveniencing individuals who are limited to slowInternet connections. Second, the insertion of hyperlinks into the bodyof binary image files is either impossible or, in the case of PDF files,rather laborious, even though the latter format was actually developedpartly to provide this exact capability. And once such hyperlinks areadded to a PDF file, changing or modifying these in any way is almost asdifficult. Probably for this reason, only a negligible fraction of thedigitized printed content on the Internet based on binary images makesuse of internal hyperlinks. And since the use of hyperlinks representsone of the most powerful and universal features of the Internet, largelysacrificing that capability is a huge weakness.

Furthermore, binary image files are static and fixed in their structure,and generally quite difficult to easily modify or manipulate. Bycontrast, the ubiquitous HTML web pages which dominate the Internet areflexible and easy to manipulate, and an unlimited number of such HTMLpages can easily be generated from a single template file written in aweb application language such as PHP or ColdFusion, with thedynamically-derived web pages being determined by the particularUniversal Resource Locator (URL) selected and perhaps the changingvalues of a server database.

The enormous contrast between the easy linking and flexibility of HTMLweb pages and the difficulty of applying such techniques to large binaryimage files, including electronic documents in Adobe portable documentformat (PDF), probably helps account for the huge current dominance ofthe former throughout the Internet, and the relatively small amount ofdigitized printed content based on the latter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram representing the normal production processfor an example embodiment of the invention, in which several of theoperations may be performed in parallel.

FIG. 2 provides a flow diagram summarizing the operational sequence ofan example embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram representing the overall Client/Servernetwork architecture for an example embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram representing the interlinked NavigationPages and Content File for a book under an example embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram representing an overview portion of theinterlinked structure for a digitized periodical under the exampleembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram representing a more detailed view ofthe interlinked structure for a digitized periodical issue under theexample embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram representing a portion of theinterlinked structure of digitized books, periodical issues, and authorsunder the example embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer system upon which an embodiment may beimplemented.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment for use in navigating the content of a single book.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising a periodical decade page.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising a periodical issue page.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising an author page.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising an organization page.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

1.0 General Overview

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

In one embodiment, a method and system for presenting digitized contenton a network using a cross-linked layer of dynamic electronic documentsderived from a database is provided.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a means of convenientlyand inexpensively presenting content material items such as digitizedbooks, periodical issues, and other printed content on the Internet bymeans of a massively-cross-linked intermediate layer of light-weight andflexible dynamic web pages derived from a relational database.

In one approach, a work of printed content is jointly associated withboth the underlying binary image representation of the actual printedpages (the “Content Files”) and also a set of one or more electronicdocuments, such as HTML web pages, which serve as an intermediatepresentation, linking, and navigation layer to those Content Files (the“Navigation Pages”). When HTML web pages are used, the Navigation Pagesmay be lightweight and flexible, but other forms of electronic documentscan be used as Navigation Pages. The Navigation Pages are dynamicallygenerated by a limited amount of web application programming. Theparticular instantiations of the Navigation Pages are determined both bya request carried in a network location identifier, such as a UniversalResource Locator (URL), and by the values stored in a database. TheNavigation Pages may comprise HTML text. Navigation Pages also maycomprise embedded links to lightweight graphical images and also linksto programmatic actions, such as Javascript action strings.

Certain embodiments of a digitization system for printed content canprovide exactness, visual convenience, legality, light-weight, easylinking, flexibility, and dynamic database-driven production. Thestatements made herein are for the purpose of describing the inventionand do not amount to a warranty that use of any techniques disclosedherein will meet any standards of legality. The use of dynamic pagesdriven by a database allows the system to be modified or extended merelyby updating the database and also automatically ensures the internalconsistency and robustness of the system.

This digitization structure separates the Navigation Pages, whichconstitute the numerical bulk of the system, containing the design,layout, internal and external links, navigation structure, andorganization, from the underlying Content Files that contain the actualbinary images of the digitized printed material and dominate thephysical size of the system.

Separating the Navigation Pages and Content Files in this approachallows the potentially quite large Content Files to remain unchangedeven if the more numerous Navigation Pages representing the designstructure of the system are transformed over time, either by changingportions of the web application programming or by updating the valuescontained in the relational database. Conversely, if futuretechnological advances call for the modification or replacement of theunderlying Content Files, such modification or replacement would havelittle or no necessary effect on the overall layout or design of thedigitization system, which is separately represented by the collectionof Navigation Pages.

This architecture also allows an embodiment in which the Content Filesare made available on the Internet in an open, unrestricted, andtransparently linkable form, while the Navigation Pages aresimultaneously subject to various sorts of desired user restrictions,thereby providing the framework for a potentially workable “opencontent” system. Under various embodiments, some or all of the ContentFiles may be provided by third parties and hosted on third-partyservers.

In one embodiment, Navigation Pages are dynamically generated by webapplication programming. This ensures that the Navigation Pages areautomatically standardized, including the standardization of theirinter-linkages and connections to the underlying Content Files. Also,since the Navigation Pages are only produced upon request of the user,even enormously large or almost unlimited numbers of such virtualNavigation Pages may involve no additional storage space prior to actualgeneration of the Navigation Pages.

In one embodiment, since the Navigation Pages are relatively numerous,lightweight, and generally determined by the requesting URL and theunderlying relational database, instantiation of the Navigation Pagescan be performed in parallel across a potentially large number of almostindependent Navigation Page computer servers, each possessing separatecopies of that unchanging relational database, and separated from theoperation of the more limited number of Content File servers. Thisserver multiplication may be useful for handling heavy user loads, sincethe bulk of traffic will probably be to the Navigation Pages. Also,since the Content Files for digitized material are generally far largerin size than the corresponding database information, the storagerequirements of the Navigation Page servers will be lower compared tothat of the overall system.

In one approach, the underlying Content Files may be represented bysearchable files. For example, password-locked text-embedded PDF filesmay be used. Additionally or alternatively, the Content Files may beproduced either via a scanning process from printed material or directlyby the desktop-publishing software which originally produced thecontent. These Content Files may be mostly or entirely located on thesystem's servers (e.g. servers 320, 321 of FIG. 3).

The Navigation Pages for this embodiment may be dynamically generatedelectronic documents. For example, the Navigation Pages may be HTML webpages that are dynamically generated by one or more templates written inthe ColdFusion web application programming language and connected to aMySQL relational database also maintained on the website server, withthe Internet requests managed by an Apache web page server. In oneembodiment, a generally small number of templates is needed. An exampleembodiment is described further below with reference to FIG. 2.

In an embodiment, the database contains a variety of descriptiveinformation on the digitized publications. A relational database such asMySQL or Microsoft SQL-Server may be used. For example, the databasestores the titles, subtitles, authors, and page numbers of the variousbooks, periodical issues, articles, chapters, and other categories ofprinted content. The database also stores indexed values relating thesedifferent hierarchical database items to each other. Most of thisdescriptive information can be obtained either from various availablethird-party databases or from the actual books and periodical issues andtheir tables of contents obtained during or after the digitizationprocess itself.

Thus, in one embodiment, each digitized book is represented by a ContentFile as well as a set of Navigation Pages. In an embodiment, one of theNavigation Pages can display the book's table of contents, with eachchapter line item containing a link to the Navigation Page for thatchapter as well as a link to the first page of that chapter in theContent Files. This approach allows the user to easily move from theNavigation Page for the entire book to the Navigation Page for any givenchapter, or to the actual beginning of that chapter in readable binaryimage form. Meanwhile, in an embodiment, the Navigation Page for a givenchapter may contain links to the Navigation Pages of the next andprevious chapters as well as to the Navigation Page for the entire bookand the beginning of that chapter in the Content File.

In this embodiment or another embodiment, a digitized periodicalcomprises a set of top-level Navigation Pages presenting the overallcontents of the periodical. The Navigation Pages may comprise a summaryof the different years or decades encompassed. A top-level NavigationPage may also be linked to a hierarchical series of Navigation Pagesdisplaying the contents of the individual decades, years, quarters, ormonths of the periodical, each of which may be linked to its “parents,”“children,” and neighboring “siblings” in the Navigation Page hierarchy.In one embodiment, higher-level Navigation Pages are linked to theNavigation Pages for the individual issues of the periodical.

Each individual issue of a digitized periodical is represented by aContent File and a set of Navigation Pages. In one embodiment, at leastone of the Navigation Pages displays the issue's table of contents. Inan embodiment, the table of contents page contains one or more links tothe Navigation Pages of each article as well as to the first page ofthat article in the Content file. In an embodiment, the Navigation Pagesfor the articles are linked to the Navigation Pages of the entire issueas well as to the beginning of that article in the Content File.

A digitization system as described herein may contain a potentially vastnumber of different Navigation Pages, representing the differentperiodicals, years, issues, articles, books, and chapters of thedigitized publications, each being potentially presented in a variety ofdifferent display modes or formats, and all cross-linked in a number ofdifferent ways.

Aside from a small amount of descriptive text drawn from the database,Navigation Pages also may contain embedded links to one or morerelatively small graphical images. In an embodiment, Navigation Pagesdisplay reduced JPEG versions of the covers of the books and periodicalissues produced as byproducts of the digitization process. Such imagesmay usefully serve as mnemonic devices allowing the user to more easilyrecall, distinguish, and locate the desired Navigation Page.

Since the Navigation Pages are dynamic database-driven pages, theNavigation Pages may be generated by a relatively few differenttemplates written in the web application language, and taking theirdifferent forms and layouts based on the values drawn from the database.Thus, adding the potentially large number of additional Navigation Pagesrequired for every additional digitized book or periodical requires asmall amount of effort, apart from inserting the appropriate descriptiveinformation into the underlying relational database. Navigation Pagescan also be added as placeholders for content which the system does notcontain in digitized form, for example films, music, or books withoutcorresponding Content Files.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, the primary content NavigationPages may be augmented by a large number of additional, somewhat moreabstract Navigation Pages, useful for organizational purposes. Forexample, in one embodiment each author of a given publication in thesystem is represented by a set of additional Navigation Pages,cross-linking all the available works of that author in a variety ofdifferent representations. Similar sets of Navigation Pages would beavailable for individual organizations and the various books,periodicals, and reports they have produced. In another embodiment, acategory of Navigation Pages may also display the entire range ofperiodical issues published at any given year and date, therebyproviding a “time slice” of public information at that moment. Differentembodiments may contain a wide range of other types of abstractNavigation Pages enabling the convenient and efficient grouping ofpublications across a wide variety of different axes and degrees offreedom.

In various embodiments, Navigation Pages corresponding to book reviewarticles may contain links to Navigation Pages for the books reviewed,whether or not these books are represented by Content Files. NavigationPages for books may be linked to Navigation Pages for the reviews ofthat book. Navigation Pages for films may be cross-linked with theNavigation Pages corresponding to the reviews of those films. Inaddition, these Navigation Pages might also contain a variety of otherrelevant or useful links, buttons, or type of information.

When a lightweight and dynamic form is used for the Navigation Pages,the Navigation Pages are highly suitable for linking. An embodimentcontaining a large number and variety of different Navigation Pages willallow users to more easily select a link suitable for their needs. Anincrease in such external links will raise the visibility of the linkedpages and the overall system in the major Internet search engines.

Since the Navigation Pages are dynamically generated from a relationaldatabase, their linkages, internal structure, or organization cangenerally be specified by a small number of efficient database queries,thereby minimizing the computer overhead required for their generation.For example, these queries would be particularly efficient for producinggrouped links of the digitized content of a related nature, such as aNavigation Page displaying all the periodical issues of a given yearsorted by date or a Navigation Page displaying all the articles writtenby a given author sorted by title.

Further, in certain embodiments, the overall system architecture allowsan efficient division of labor during the production process, separatingthe creation of: (A) the appearance and linkages of the system,determined by the web application programming; (B) the binary imagecontent, determined by the Content Files and generally produced byscanning/OCR; and (C) the characteristics of the particular NavigationPages, determined by the relational database and partly derived viadata-entry from the particular tables of contents. Therefore, theprocedures used to produce or modify (A), (B), and (C) are largelyindependent and can be performed in sequence or possibly in parallel bydifferent individuals or groups, thereby tending to maximize theefficiency of the production process. The efficiency of the productionprocess may be further increased because in most cases nearly all theinformation required for the production of Navigation Pages is derivedfrom a tiny fraction of the printed content, namely the tables ofcontents and perhaps the title pages.

In an embodiment, a computer system comprises one or more content fileservers having recorded thereon a plurality of digital content materialitems, and a plurality of digital graphical image files comprisinggraphical images associated with the content material items; whereineach of content material items comprises one or more data files ofdigitized electronic printed, audio, or video content material; one ormore navigation page servers each comprising: one or more storagedevices having recorded thereon a plurality of navigation pagetemplates; a database comprising stored descriptive information aboutthe content material items, including hierarchical and otherrelationships both between different content material items and betweendifferent subcomponents of content material items; logic encoded on theone or more storage devices and when executed operable to perform:receiving a request to view a particular navigation page, comprising adynamically-generated electronic document; selecting one of thenavigation page templates based on the request; creating and sending tothe database, one or more queries for the descriptive informationrelating to the particular navigation page; receiving one or moreresults to the queries; generating, based on the one or more results, aparticular navigation page comprising descriptive information about oneor more of the content material items, portions thereof, or abstractcollections thereof; a plurality of links to other such navigationpages; and zero or more links to particular content material items orportions thereof; sending only the particular navigation page to aclient computer.

2.0 Example Production Process and Operational Sequence

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram representing the normal production processfor an example embodiment of the invention, in which several of theoperations may be performed in parallel.

Programming development in the web application language [#110] producesone or more templates [#111] that are used to dynamically generate theNavigation Pages. Templates [#111] contain the basic design architectureof the system, including the specific layout and displayable views ofthe Navigation Pages, as well as their links to each other, to theContent Files, and to any external web pages. All such programming maybe performed using Cold Fusion, PHP, or some other present or future webapplication language, using standard software programming techniques forthe creation of dynamic web pages.

As shown in step 112, summary descriptive information on the digitizedcontent material items is obtained either through data entry from thecontent itself or from an external database or other source and insertedinto the underlying relational database [#113]. Standard databaseprogramming techniques may be used to insert such information. Step 112may be performed in parallel with step 110. For various embodiments,such summary information might include the authors, titles, and startingpages of books, chapters, and articles. In the case of printed contentmaterial items, most of the summary information can usually be obtainedfrom the table of contents page of the book or periodical issue.

Any printed content not already in binary image format may be scannedand digitized into such format using standard technologies, includingOCR-processing to extract and embed ASCII versions of the text [#114].Step 114 may be performed in parallel with steps 110, 112. For anexample embodiment, the outputs of this processing are searchabletext-embedded PDF files, which constitute the Content Files [#117] ofthis embodiment. In this example embodiment, the binary-images of thecover pages of the printed content are also separately extracted andcompressed to produce lightweight JPEG graphical image files [#115] usedfor display on the Navigation Pages.

Once these production processes have been completed, the generation of agiven Navigation Page [#116] draws upon the web application programmingtemplates [#111], the descriptive information contained in therelational database [#113], and the lightweight graphical image files[#115], and may contain links to the appropriate Content Files [#117].

FIG. 2 provides a flow diagram summarizing the operational sequence ofan example embodiment of the invention.

First, a user on a client machine specifies a particular networklocation identifier, such as a URL, for the website [#210]. This URLrequest is received and parsed by the web page server of the system[#211], which determines whether the URL request corresponds to aContent File or to a Navigation Page.

The particular method of indicating whether a URL request refers to aContent File or a Navigation Page is completely embodiment-dependent,and is chosen for programming convenience and elegance. For an exampleembodiment, the URL representing the default displayed view of theNavigation Page for an article beginning on page 30 of the Jun. 14, 1947issue of Saturday Review would end in “ . . ./Publication/SaturdayRev-1947jun14-00030”. In this same exampleembodiment, the URL corresponding to the first page of that same articlein the Content File of that issue would be indicated by adding thesuffix “?View=PDF” to that string producing the URL ending

“ . . . /Publication/SaturdayRev-1947jun14-00030?View=PDF”

If the URL request is determined to correspond to a Content File, it isdirected to the Content File Server [#212], which then delivers theappropriate Content File over the Internet to the user [#217].

If the URL request is determined to correspond to a Navigation Page, itis directed to the Navigation Page Server [190 213]. Here, the WebApplication Programming software server runs [190 214] templates 111 toparse the request in more detail, determining the particular NavigationPage to be displayed and formulating one or more relational queriesrequired to obtain the information required by that page. The one ormore queries are sent to the relational database server, which returnsthe required data in a database server response [190 215]. The softwareserver then uses [190 216] the data in the database server response toproduce the Navigation Page, incorporating appropriate links to ContentFiles, graphic images, and other Navigation Pages, and via the web pageserver provides the resulting Navigation Page over the Internet to theuser. The programming techniques used in the templates 111 for producingthe appropriate Navigation Page are the standard ones for producing acomplex dynamic web page from a URL request and the informationcontained in a relational database.

Once a requested Navigation Page has been received, the user can examinethe information on that page or click on any of the numerous embeddedlinks in order to transfer to a Content File or to a differentNavigation Page [#218].

3.0 Example System Architecture

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram representing the overall Client/Servernetwork architecture for an example embodiment of the invention. Userson various Client Machines [#310-313] may provide Internet page requeststo the system's one or more web page servers [#314-316], which thenroute these requests either to the one or more Navigation Page Servers[#317-319] containing the web application programming templates andsoftware servers and the relational databases and database servers MySQLor the one or more Content File Servers [#320,321] which contain thebinary PDF content files. The one or more Navigation Page serverscontain the web application templates and software servers and therelational databases and database software servers. The one or moreContent File servers contain the Content Files. For an exampleembodiment, web page server would be Apache, the web applicationprogramming would be Cold Fusion or PHP, the relational database wouldbe MySQL, and the Content Files would be text-embedded PDF files.

4.0 Example Content and Page Relationships

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram representing the interlinked NavigationPages and Content File for a book under an example embodiment of theinvention. A Navigation Page [#410] displays the book's table ofcontents, and is cross-linked with the Navigation Pages [#411-416]representing the different chapters of the book; each Navigation Pagefor a given chapter is also cross-linked with those for its neighboringchapters. In addition, these chapter Navigation Pages provide links tothe appropriate points in the Content File [#417] for the entire book.For this embodiment, the Navigation Pages are provided as HTML Web Pagesand the Content File is a PDF File.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram representing an overview portion of theinterlinked structure for a digitized periodical under the exampleembodiment of this invention. A Navigation Page [#510] represents theentire periodical, displaying an overview of its issues grouped by year.This Navigation Page is then cross-linked with the Navigation Pages[#511-515] representing the grouped issues of the individual years ofthe periodical. One of these, the year 1975 Navigation Page [#513], isshown cross-linked with the Navigation Pages [#516-520] representing theindividual issues of that year. Similarly, the March 1975 issueNavigation Page [#518] is shown cross-linked with the Navigation Pages[#521-525] representing the individual articles of that issue. Finally,each of these article Navigation Pages [#521-525] provides a link to theappropriate point in the Content File for that issue. For thisembodiment, the Navigation Pages are provided as HTML Web Pages and theContent File is a PDF file.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram representing a more detailed view ofthe interlinked structure for a digitized periodical issue under theexample embodiment of this invention. A Navigation Page [#610] displaysthe issue's table of contents and is cross-linked with Navigation Pages[#611-616] representing the different articles in the issue; eacharticle Navigation Page is also cross-linked to those for itsneighboring articles. In addition, these article Navigation Pagesprovide links to the appropriate points in the Content File [#617] forthe entire issue. For this embodiment, the Navigation Pages are providedas HTML Web Pages and the Content File is a PDF file.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram representing a portion of theinterlinked structure of digitized books, periodical issues, and authorsunder the example embodiment of this invention. A Navigation Page [#710]represents the grouped works of a given author and is cross-linked withthe Navigation Pages for three of his articles [#721-723] and two of hisbooks [#719,720]. In addition, the Navigation Page [#719] for one ofthose books is shown cross-linked with the Navigation Page [#711] of abook review article reviewing that book; that review Navigation Page[#711] is also cross-linked with the Navigation Pages for the otherbooks it discusses [#716-718] as well as the Navigation Page for itsentire periodical issue [#714] and it also provides a link to theappropriate point in the issue Content File [#715]. Finally, the issueNavigation Page [#714] similarly provides links to points in its issueContent File [#715] and is shown cross-linked with the Navigation Pagefor the grouped issues of that year [#713], which in turn iscross-linked to the Navigation Page for the overall periodical. For thisembodiment, the Navigation Pages are provided as HTML Web Pages and theContent File is a PDF file.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment for use in navigating the content of a single book. In FIG.9, a navigation page 900 comprises a link 902 to an electronic digitalrepresentation of the book, such as a PDF file. Author link 904, whenselected, causes generating another navigation page showing all contentmaterial items associated with the author named in the link.

Navigation page 900 further comprises a content link section 910 thatcomprises one or more links 914 to particular articles, chapters, orother sections of the book. For example, a first link 914 identifies afirst article in the book and, when selected, causes the system todisplay that article. Alternatively, if the first article has one ormore sub-sections or hierarchically lower levels of content, thenselecting first link 914 causes generating another navigation page thatidentifies the sub-sections or levels. For each link 914, a documentlink 916 identifies an electronic digital representation of the article,such as a PDF file. Navigation page 900 also may comprise a digitalimage 908 of a portion of the book associated with the content linksection 910 to enable a user to visually correlate the content linksection and the actual content material item.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising a periodical decade page. In FIG. 10, anavigation page 1000 comprises navigation links 1002 associated withvarious levels of display and which, when selected, cause generatingadditional navigation pages that provide information about all decadesof publications of the associated periodical, all issues of theperiodical, all periodicals in the database, and all publications in thedatabase.

For the periodical identified in navigation page 1000—in this example,the journal “Dissent”—one or more period links 1004 are provided and,when selected; cause generating additional navigation pages associatedwith time periods within the decade represented by the periodicalnavigation page. Previous-Next links 1006 enable generating additionalnavigation pages that are similar in form to navigation page 1000 butare associated with a different decade of publication.

Navigation page 1000 further comprises display control links 1008 which,when selected, change the format and content of a content section 1010of the navigation page. For example, different display control links1008 can cause generating a new navigation page that shows a list of allissues of the publication for the associated decade, all covers, allcolumns, etc.

Within the content section 1010, a graphical image 1018 indicates thecover of the first issue of the associated decade. Each issue withinthat decade is represented by issue information 1012, which may comprisean issue link 1014 and a document link 1016. Selecting the issue link1014 causes generating a new navigation page that shows all contentwithin the selected issue, similar in form to FIG. 11. Selecting thedocument link 1016 causes displaying the electronic digitalrepresentation of the selected issue, such as a PDF file.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising a periodical issue page. In FIG. 11, anavigation page 1100 comprises navigation links 1102 associated withvarious levels of display and which, when selected, cause generatingadditional navigation pages that provide information about all issues ofpublication year of the periodical, all issues of the periodical, allperiodicals in the database, and all publications in the database.

For the periodical identified in navigation page 1102—in this example,the journal “Reason”—a document link 1104 enables displaying theelectronic digital representation of the periodical, such as a PDF file.Organization link 1106, when selected, causes generating anothernavigation page showing all content material items associated with theorganization that is named in the link. FIG. 13 is an exampleorganization page. Previous-Next links 1108 enable generating additionalnavigation pages that are similar in form to navigation page 1000 butare associated with a different issue of the publication.

Navigation page 1100 further comprises display control links 1110 which,when selected, change the format and content of a content section 1114of the navigation page. For example, different display control links1110 can cause generating a new navigation page that shows a condensedtable of contents, the first text in the periodical, only articles inthe periodical, only book reviews in the periodical, etc.

Within the content section 1114, a graphical image 1112 indicates thecover of the periodical. Each subordinate content item within the issue,such as articles or book reviews, is represented by article information1115, which may comprise an article link 1116 and a document link 1118.Selecting the article link 1116 causes generating a new navigation pagethat shows all content within the selected article, such as a navigationpage having links to subsections of the article, if any. Selecting thedocument link 1118 causes displaying the electronic digitalrepresentation of the selected article, such as a PDF file.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising an author page. In FIG. 12, a navigation page1200 comprises an author indicator 1202 that identifies the authorassociated with all content material items identified in a contentsection 1214 of the navigation page. Navigation page 1200 furthercomprises display control links 1204 which, when selected, change theformat and content of a content section 1214 of the navigation page. Forexample, different display control links 1204 can cause generating a newnavigation page that shows only books that the author has reviewed, onlychapters of the author, articles of the author, book reviews written bythe author, etc.

Navigation page 1200 may comprise one or more format links 1206 which,when selected, cause generating a new navigation page in a differentformat. For example, format links 1206 can cause generating a navigationpage in a condensed format, a navigation page showing only covers of theauthor's books, covers in large image format, etc.

Navigation page 1200 may comprise one or more sort links 1208 which,when selected, cause generating a new navigation page in which thecontent section 1214 is sorted in different ways. For example, varioussort links 1208 can cause the system to generate a new navigation pagein which the content material items shown in content section 1214 aresorted by title, date, size, order, etc.

Navigation page 1200 also may comprise one or more decade links 1210that cause generating a new navigation page that shows only contentmaterial items of the associated author that were published in thedecade or other time period indicated in the link. Navigation page 1200also may comprise one or more title links 1212 that cause generating anew navigation page that shows only content material items of theassociated author that have titles that begin with the alphabetic letterindicated in the link.

In an embodiment, navigation page 1200 may comprise range links 1213which, when selected, cause generating a new navigation page thatincludes only content material items of the associated author within aspecified range of result items. For example, FIG. 12 indicates eightitems numbered 1-8 within the first 1-25 result items. Other links candisplay content material items within other ranges of results associatedwith the author.

Content section 1214 comprises one or more content material iteminformation sets 1215 that provide specific information about contentmaterial items of the author. For example, information set 1215comprises a title item 1216 that indicates the name of a contentmaterial item authored by the associated author and may include a titlelink 1217 to the Navigation Page associated with that content materialitem and a periodical link 1220 to the periodical in which the item ortitle was published. Selecting a document link 1218 causes displayingthe electronic digital representation of the selected content materialitem, such as a PDF file.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example navigation page as generated in anembodiment and comprising an organization page. In FIG. 13, a navigationpage 1300 comprises an organization link 1302 that identifies theorganization and which provides a link to the Home web page of thatorganization, if one exists.

Navigation page 1300 further comprises display control links 1304 which,when selected, change the format and content of a content section 1314of the navigation page. For example, different display control links1304 can cause generating a new navigation page that shows all contentmaterial items that the associated organization has distributed,periodicals of the organization only, sets of the organization only,books only, major references, etc.

Navigation page 1300 further comprises format control links 1306 which,when selected, change the format of content section 1314. For example,format control links 1306 can cause generating a new navigation pagethat shows a condensed list of content material items, only covers ofthe content material items of the organization, only large graphicalimages of covers of the content material items, etc.

Navigation page 1300 may comprise one or more sort links 1308 which,when selected, cause generating a new navigation page in which thecontent section 1314 is sorted in different ways. For example, varioussort links 1308 can cause the system to generate a new navigation pagein which the content material items shown in content section 1314 aresorted by title, date, size, order, etc. Navigation page 1300 also maycomprise one or more decade links 1310 that cause generating a newnavigation page that shows only content material items of the associatedorganization that were published in the decade or other time periodindicated in the link. Navigation page 1300 also may comprise one ormore title links 1312 that cause generating a new navigation page thatshows only content material items of the associated organization thathave titles that begin with the alphabetic letter indicated in the link.

Content section 1314 may comprise an enumerated list of content materialitems associated with an organization. Each content material item isidentified by a graphical image 1320 of the content material item, atitle link 1316, and a document link 1318. The title link 1316, whenselected, causes displaying a new navigation page associated with thecontent material specified by the selected title. Selecting the documentlink 1318 causes displaying an electronic digital representation of thecontent material item, such as a PDF file.

FIG. 9-13 represent examples of navigation pages that an embodiment cangenerate. In other embodiments, other particular navigation pages may begenerated.

5.0 Example Hardware Implementation

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 800 uponwhich an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system800 includes a bus 802 or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a processor 804 coupled with bus 802 forprocessing information. Computer system 800 also includes a main memory806, such as a random access memory (“RAM”) or other dynamic storagedevice, coupled to bus 802 for storing information and instructions tobe executed by processor 804. Main memory 806 also may be used forstoring temporary variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions to be executed by processor 804. Computersystem 800 further includes a read only memory (“ROM”) 808 or otherstatic storage device coupled to bus 802 for storing static informationand instructions for processor 804. A storage device 810, such as amagnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus 802 forstoring information and instructions.

Computer system 800 may be coupled via bus 802 to a display 812, such asa cathode ray tube (“CRT”), for displaying information to a computeruser. An input device 814, including alphanumeric and other keys, iscoupled to bus 802 for communicating information and command selectionsto processor 804. Another type of user input device is cursor control816, such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, or cursor direction keys forcommunicating direction information and command selections to processor804 and for controlling cursor movement on display 812. This inputdevice typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis(e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specifypositions in a plane.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 800 forpresenting and organizing digitized content material on a network.According to one embodiment of the invention, presenting and organizingdigitized content material on a network is provided by computer system800 in response to processor 804 executing one or more sequences of oneor more instructions contained in main memory 806. Such instructions maybe read into main memory 806 from another computer-readable medium, suchas storage device 810. Execution of the sequences of instructionscontained in main memory 806 causes processor 804 to perform the processsteps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitrymay be used in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to processor 804 forexecution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks,such as storage device 810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, suchas main memory 806. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copperwire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 802.Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves,such as those generated during radio wave and infrared datacommunications.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM,a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 804 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 800 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infrared transmitterto convert the data to an infrared signal. An infrared detector canreceive the data carried in the infrared signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 802. Bus 802 carries the data tomain memory 806, from which processor 804 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 806 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 810 either before or afterexecution by processor 804.

Computer system 800 also includes a communication interface 818 coupledto bus 802. Communication interface 818 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 820 that is connected to alocal network 822. For example, communication interface 818 may be anintegrated services digital network (“ISDN”) card or a modem to providea data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephoneline. As another example, communication interface 818 may be a localarea network (“LAN”) card to provide a data communication connection toa compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any suchimplementation, communication interface 818 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 820 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 820 mayprovide a connection through local network 822 to a host computer 824 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) 826.ISP 826 in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the“Internet” 828. Local network 822 and Internet 828 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 820and through communication interface 818, which carry the digital data toand from computer system 800, are exemplary forms of carrier wavestransporting the information.

Computer system 800 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 820 and communicationinterface 818. In the Internet example, a server 830 might transmit arequested code for an application program through Internet 828, ISP 826,local network 822 and communication interface 818. In accordance withthe invention, one such downloaded application provides for presentingand organizing digitized content material on a network as describedherein.

The received code may be executed by processor 804 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 810, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution. In this manner, computer system 800 may obtainapplication code in the form of a carrier wave.

6.0 Extensions and Alternatives

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evidentthat various modifications and changes may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

For example, instead of being provided as a text-embedded single PDFfile, the Content File representing the page-images of a digitizedpublication could also be provided in some other format, such as beingTIFFs, JPEGs, or some other present or future binary image format. Invarious embodiments, the page-images are displayed as stand-alone binaryimages or displayed within a lightweight webpage framework, such as aninserted image within the inline frame of an HTML page. The page-imagesmay be bound together into a single file, provided as separate files, orexist as “Binary Large Objects” (BLOBs) inside a database. Instead ofbeing composed of simple HTML text, the Navigation Pages may be alsorendered in XML or some other present or future lightweight,text-oriented format.

Instead of being based on ColdFusion, the templates used to produce thelightweight dynamic Navigation Pages might instead use PHP or some otherpresent or future web application programming language. In addition,instead of MySQL, the database system could instead rely on Oracle SQL,Microsoft SQL-Server, or some other present or future SQL or otherrelational database. Instead of using Apache, the Internet requestscould be managed by some other present or future web page server.

Instead of being restricted to printed material, the primary contentNavigation Pages of the system could also extended to other forms ofcontent, such as films and music albums, or other types of digitizedaudio or video content.

A wide variety of additional types of secondary abstract NavigationPages could also be added to the system, besides those just for authorsand organizations. These could be used to organize and group the contentNavigation Pages in additional ways.

1. A computer system, comprising: one or more content file computershaving recorded thereon a plurality of digital content material items,and a plurality of digital graphical image files comprising graphicalimages associated with the content material items; wherein each of thecontent material items comprises one or more data files of digitizedelectronic printed, audio, or video content material; one or morenavigation page computers each comprising: one or more storage deviceshaving recorded thereon a plurality of navigation page templates; adatabase comprising stored descriptive information about the contentmaterial items, including hierarchical and other relationships bothbetween different content material items and between differentsubcomponents of content material items; logic encoded on the one ormore storage devices and when executed on the one or more navigationpage computers operable to perform: receiving a request to view anavigation page; selecting one of the navigation page templates based onthe request; creating and sending to the database, one or more queriesfor the descriptive information about content material items relating tothe navigation page; receiving one or more results to the queries;generating, based on the one or more results, a particular navigationpage conforming to the selected navigation page template, the particularnavigation page comprising the descriptive information about one or moreof the content material items, portions thereof, or abstract collectionsthereof; a plurality of links to other such navigation pages; and zeroor more links to particular content material items or portions thereof;sending only the particular navigation page to a client computer.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the particular navigation page furthercomprises one or more embedded graphic images associated with theparticular content material items.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thecontent material items comprise digitized books or periodical issuesincluding chapters and articles.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein eachof the navigation page templates specifies a design and a layout of adisplay of a particular abstract view of one or more of the contentmaterial items.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the particularnavigation page represents an abstract view of at least a portion of atable of contents of a particular content material item comprising adigitized book or periodical issue, and wherein the particularnavigation page comprises one or more direct links to portions of thecontent material item corresponding to initial pages of particularchapters or articles identified in the table of contents.
 6. The systemof claim 1, wherein the number of the content file computers is lessthan the number of the navigation page computers.
 7. The system of claim1, wherein the particular navigation page comprises a plurality of linksto top-level navigation pages, wherein each of the top-level navigationpages represents a discrete time period among a plurality of timeperiods of a serial periodical, wherein each of the top-level navigationpages comprises a plurality of links to issues of the serial periodicalpublished within the discrete time period.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the particular navigation page comprises an abstract navigationpage comprising a series of one or more descriptions and links to othernavigation pages each associated with publications possessing aparticular value of a specified metadata feature.
 9. The system of claim8, wherein the metadata feature comprises any one of publication author,publication organization, publication publisher, and book reviewed in aparticular review article, and review article reviewing a particularbook.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising logic which whenexecuted is operable to perform receiving a selection of any of thelinks in the particular navigation page; and providing to the clientcomputer the content material items that are referenced in the selectedlink.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular navigation pagecomprises an HTML document and wherein one or more of the data filescomprises PDF documents.
 12. An apparatus, comprising: one or morecontent file computers having recorded thereon a plurality of digitalcontent material items, and a plurality of digital graphical image filescomprising graphical images associated with the content material items;wherein each of the content material items comprises one or more datafiles of digitized electronic printed, audio, or video content material;one or more navigation page computers each comprising: one or morestorage devices having recorded thereon a plurality of navigation pagetemplates; a database comprising stored descriptive information aboutthe content material items, including hierarchical and otherrelationships both between different content material items and betweendifferent subcomponents of content material items; means for receiving arequest to view a navigation page; means for selecting one of thenavigation page templates based on the request; means for creating andsending to the database, one or more queries for the descriptiveinformation about content material items relating to the navigationpage; means for receiving one or more results to the queries; means forgenerating, based on the one or more results, a particular navigationpage conforming to the selected navigation page template, the particularnavigation page comprising the descriptive information about one or moreof the content material items, portions thereof, or abstract collectionsthereof; a plurality of links to other such navigation pages; and zeroor more links to particular content material items or portions thereof;means for sending only the particular navigation page to a clientcomputer.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the particularnavigation page further comprises one or more embedded graphic imagesassociated with the particular content material items.
 14. The apparatusof claim 12, wherein the content material items comprise digitized booksor periodical issues including chapters and articles.
 15. The apparatusof claim 12, wherein each of the navigation page templates specifies adesign and a layout of a display of a particular abstract view of one ormore of the content material items.
 16. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the particular navigation page represents an abstract view of atleast a portion of a table of contents of a particular content materialitem comprising a digitized book or periodical issue, and wherein theparticular navigation page comprises one or more direct links toportions of the content material item corresponding to initial pages ofparticular chapters or articles identified in the table of contents. 17.The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the number of the content filecomputers is less than the number of the navigation page computers. 18.The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the particular navigation pagecomprises a plurality of links to top-level navigation pages, whereineach of the top-level navigation pages represents a discrete time periodamong a plurality of time periods of a serial periodical, wherein eachof the top-level navigation pages comprises a plurality of links toissues of the serial periodical published within the discrete timeperiod.
 19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the particular navigationpage comprises an abstract navigation page comprising a series of one ormore descriptions and links to other navigation pages each associatedwith publications possessing a particular value of a specified metadatafeature.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the metadata featurecomprises any one of publication author, publication organization,publication publisher, and book reviewed in a particular review article,and review article reviewing a particular book.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 12, further comprising means for receiving a selection of any ofthe links in the particular navigation page; and means for providing tothe client computer the content material items that are referenced inthe selected link.
 22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the particularnavigation page comprises an HTML document and wherein one or more ofthe data files comprise PDF documents.
 23. A volatile or non-volatilecomputer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions,which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to carry out the steps of: establishingcommunications with one or more content file computers having recordedthereon a plurality of digital content material items, and a pluralityof digital graphical image files comprising graphical images associatedwith the content material items; wherein each of the content materialitems comprises one or more data files of digitized electronic printed,audio, or video content material; receiving a request to view anavigation page; selecting one of a plurality of stored navigation pagetemplates based on the request; creating and sending to a database, oneor more queries for descriptive information about content material itemsrelating to the navigation page, wherein the database comprises thedescriptive information about the content material items includinghierarchical and other relationships both between different contentmaterial items and between different subcomponents of content materialitems; receiving one or more results to the queries; generating, basedon the one or more results, a particular navigation page conforming tothe selected navigation page template, the particular navigation pagecomprising the descriptive information about one or more of the contentmaterial items, portions thereof, or abstract collections thereof; aplurality of links to other such navigation pages; and zero or morelinks to particular content material items or portions thereof; sendingonly the particular navigation page to a client computer.
 24. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the particular navigationpage further comprises one or more embedded graphic images associatedwith the particular content material items.
 25. The computer-readablemedium of claim 23, wherein the content material items comprisedigitized books or periodical issues including chapters and articles.26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein each of thenavigation page templates specifies a design and a layout of a displayof a particular abstract view of one or more of the content materialitems.
 27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein theparticular navigation page represents an abstract view of at least aportion of a table of contents of a particular content material itemcomprising a digitized book or periodical issue, and wherein theparticular navigation page comprises one or more direct links toportions of the content material item corresponding to initial pages ofparticular chapters or articles identified in the table of contents. 28.The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the one or moreprocessors are part of one or more navigation page computers, andwherein the number of the content file computers is less than the numberof the navigation page computers.
 29. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 23, wherein the particular navigation page comprises a pluralityof links to top-level navigation pages, wherein each of the top-levelnavigation pages represents a discrete time period among a plurality oftime periods of a serial periodical, wherein each of the top-levelnavigation pages comprises a plurality of links to issues of the serialperiodical published within the discrete time period.
 30. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the particular navigationpage comprises an abstract navigation page comprising a series of one ormore descriptions and links to other navigation pages each associatedwith publications possessing a particular value of a specified metadatafeature.
 31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein themetadata feature comprises any one of publication author, publicationorganization, publication publisher, and book reviewed in a particularreview article, and review article reviewing a particular book.
 32. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 23, further comprising instructionswhich when executed cause receiving a selection of any of the links inthe particular navigation page; and means for providing to the clientcomputer the particular content material items that are referenced inthe selected link.
 33. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, whereinthe particular navigation page comprises an HTML document and whereinone or more of the data files comprise PDF documents.
 34. A method,comprising: establishing communications with one or more content filecomputers having recorded thereon a plurality of digital contentmaterial items, and a plurality of digital graphical image filescomprising graphical images associated with the content material items;wherein each of the content material items comprises one or more datafiles of digitized electronic printed, audio, or video content material;receiving a request to view a navigation page; selecting one of aplurality of stored navigation page templates based on the request;creating and sending to a database, one or more queries for descriptiveinformation about content material items relating to the navigationpage, wherein the database comprises the descriptive information aboutthe content material items, including hierarchical and otherrelationships both between different content material items and betweendifferent subcomponents of content material items; receiving one or moreresults to the queries; generating, based on the one or more results, aparticular navigation page conforming to the selected navigation pagetemplate, the particular navigation page comprising the descriptiveinformation about one or more of the content material items, portionsthereof, or abstract collections thereof; a plurality of links to othersuch navigation pages; and zero or more links to particular contentmaterial items or portions thereof; sending only the particularnavigation page to a client computer.
 35. The method of claim 34,wherein the particular navigation page further comprises one or moreembedded graphic images associated with the particular content materialitems.
 36. The method of claim 34, wherein the content material itemscomprise digitized books or periodical issues including chapters andarticles.
 37. The method of claim 34, wherein each of the navigationpage templates specifies a design and a layout of a display of aparticular abstract view of one or more of the content material items.38. The method of claim 34, wherein the particular navigation pagerepresents an abstract view of at least a portion of a table of contentsof a particular content material item comprising a digitized book orperiodical issue, and wherein the particular navigation page comprisesone or more direct links to portions of the content material itemcorresponding to initial pages of particular chapters or articlesidentified in the table of contents.
 39. The method of claim 34, whereinthe one or more processors are part of one or more navigation pagecomputers, and wherein the number of the content file computers is lessthan the number of the navigation page computers.
 40. The method ofclaim 34, wherein the particular navigation page comprises a pluralityof links to top-level navigation pages, wherein each of the top-levelnavigation pages represents a discrete time period among a plurality oftime periods of a serial periodical, wherein each of the top-levelnavigation pages comprises a plurality of links to issues of the serialperiodical published within the discrete time period.
 41. The method ofclaim 34, wherein the particular navigation page comprises an abstractnavigation page comprising a series of one or more descriptions andlinks to other navigation pages each associated with publicationspossessing a particular value of a specified metadata feature.
 42. Themethod of claim 41, wherein the metadata feature comprises any one ofpublication author, publication organization, publication publisher, andbook reviewed in a particular review article, and review articlereviewing a particular book.
 43. The method of claim 34, furthercomprising receiving a selection of any of the links in the particularnavigation page; and providing to the client computer the particularcontent material items that are referenced in the selected link.
 44. Themethod of claim 34, wherein the particular navigation page comprises anHTML document and wherein one or more of the data files comprise PDFdocuments.